Answering your sports questions

By Steve Sell

July 27, 2018

The Answer Man is back, answering your questions to the best of my ability.

• Q. — Who will the Kansas City Royals trade Mike Moustakas to?

• A. — It has to happen any day now. The first trade deadline is July 31, after that things are somewhat complicated. I thought the New York Yankees were the most logical choice, but in my research there are reports popping up the Royals want too much for what amounts to a 2-month rental. Moose has a id="mce_marker"5 million option for next year and I don’t think the Yankees are interested in that. Atlanta could be a destination as the Braves surprisingly are in the hunt.

• Q — What will McPherson High’s football record be this season?

• A — Maybe the most-asked question I get. Remember, it’s just an eight-game regular season this year, with postseason play starting in Week 9. The Bullpups may be favored in every game, with Salina South (despite its recent lack of success) and Buhler being the biggest obstacles. If the offensive line comes together and the defense matures in a hurry, the Bullpups are probably looking at 8-0 or 7-1. Buhler started almost all seniors last year, but had a strong JV team. MHS’ success may depend most on health, as the starting group is outstanding, but there’s not a lot of depth.

• Q. — At what point does new Kansas AD Jeff Long pull the plug on the David Beaty era?

• A. — I really feel sorry for Beaty. The guy wears his emotions on his sleeve and he’s tried hard to turn the KU program around, but it’s just not happening. The non-conference schedule is going to be a key as KU needs to at least go 2-1. But as far as beating anybody in the Big 12, I can’t see it happening. While the Jayhawks have as many starters returning as any team in the conference, they’re returnees from a team that wasn’t competitive in most of its games. The Jayhawks have a bye week Oct. 13, which means Beaty’s last game could be Oct. 6 at West Virginia. I’m sure Long has been busy working on his list of replacements and knows KU has to pony up big bucks to get a coach who wants the ultimate challenge of turning around college football’s worst program.

• Q. — What are your impressions of the eight-part documentary “Last Chance U” on Netflix?

• A. — I didn’t watch the first two years of the highly acclaimed series, but I’ve tuned in this year because it’s about my alma mater Independence Community College and it hits close to home. All I can say is juco football has changed light-years since I attended what was then ICJC. Kansas jucos were allowed only 10 out-of-state players when I was there in the mid 70s, so you had 45 Kansas kids playing. I’ve watched six of the eight episodes and I am still picking my jaw off the ground. It’s raw, edgy, unfiltered and ICC coach Jason Brown is unlike anybody I’ve been around as his language is as foul as three-week-old milk. He certainly gets results, but his methods borderline madness.

• A. — I think they’re a boom-or-bust team. The first six games will set the tone as they need to be, at worst, 3-3, though 2-4 or 1-5 is a possibility. Things get easier after that, but by then they could be in too deep of a hole to dig out of. On the other side of the coin, if Patrick Mahomes lives up to the hype, they’ll light up the scoreboard. The Chiefs remind me of those old Dick Vermeil teams when they won a lot of games like 42-31, lots of offense and little defense. I’ve said before the Chiefs could be 12-4 as easily as they could be 4-12. If nothing else, it could be one of the more fascinating seasons in Kansas City given how many question marks there are.